First, and most important, we ALL LOVE JAQ. He was full of personality… He was funny. He was lazy… He knew and obeyed the rules… He enforced the rules… He never escaped when Gus did, he just stood there barking for Gus to come back. He loved to lean into people and snuggle. He kept Gus in line when he was pushing the limits. He was even doing so much better with his food guarding.

Now for the sad news… Jaq started biting serious bites a while back. When he bit, it was not the puppy nipping, or the playful biting that they do when they want to persuade us to play. It was mean growling, snarling hard biting. He almost looked possessed when he did it. Most of my kids have been bit. I have been bit several times, with many bruises and deep scars from his teeth, and have lost my balance, hurting myself by falling due to the force of his attacks. He viscously attacked his brother, drawing blood. He bit the vet, that gave him the rabies shot, drawing blood. We knew something was wrong. How can this obedient, snuggly dog bite so aggressively, unprovoked?

We talked with several trainers. We totally believe this was NOT a behavior problem. We took him to a pet ER after one of his more serious bites. At first everyone said it was a behavior problem or owner problem. It was not. We talked with several vets. One suggested that he may be having seizures, and put him on gabapentin. This helped a little, but he still bit. After he would bite, he would be told to go to his crate until he calmed down. It got to the point that he would put himself in the crate after he bit. He was ALWAYS very sorry and seemed confused after he bit, then he would want more love and snuggles. We talked with his vet again. He suggested adding some kind of med that helps keep him mellow. That only made it worse.

The vet said the only things left are brain issues, like a tumor, or some kind of mental disability. After much talk and research, we decided that the best thing for Jaq was to put him down for several reasons. 1. We did not want him hurting his brother or anyone else. 2. Jaq did not understand why this was happening and why people would be afraid or why he was biting/being sent to his crate. 3. This could not have been pleasant for him to suddenly lash out at his people. This was an extremely hard decision to make. We tried many routes to try to correct the problem. Unfortunately, even Jaq did not know how to control this problem and his confusion made him upset. Like I said before, he almost seemed possessed when he would lash out and bite. He got a blank look in his eyes, while he was lashing out, then realize he did wrong.

This was a heart breaking decision. Me, Jeff and Sam were with him in the vets office and he went to sleep peacefully.

We will all miss him very much, especially Gus, who keeps looking for his brother.